


new kind of tension

by aetherpunk



Series: mcyt advent calender [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Arguments, Canon-Typical Violence, Fighting, Hurt No Comfort, IRL Minecraft, Minecraft, Sibling Rivalry, Siblings, Snow, Tags are so hard, War, but its irl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27872445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aetherpunk/pseuds/aetherpunk
Summary: where everything isn't meant to be okaytelevision dreams of tomorrowwe're not the ones who're meant to followfor that's enough to argue- american idiot ,  green day=========she remembers.=========mcyt advent calendar day 3: snow
Series: mcyt advent calender [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037358
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31
Collections: MCYT Advent Calendar Prompts 2020





	new kind of tension

she remembered days like these. she remembered when dream would grab her wrist before she ran outside wearing shorts and a t-shirt, too amazed by the white flurry falling down onto the pavement to stop and put on a jacket. 

“hey,” he’d say, “come on now. don’t be stupid.”

“i’m not stupid, clay!” she’d yank her wrist from him and run out the open door, socks immediately absorbing the cold wet ground. she grimaced but continued to reach her hands to the sky, trying to catch the snowflakes before they hit the ground. it  _ never  _ snowed here. never, not once. she didn’t want to miss it.

she remembers screaming as dream picked her up from behind and pulled her back inside, carrying her back to the living room. she tried her hardest to stop her teeth from chattering, stuffing her shaking hands in her pockets. she wouldn’t admit that she was cold, not willingly. 

she groaned in annoyance as clay picked up a heavy winter coat and stuffed her inside it, pulling the hood over her head and zipping it up. he grabbed her clean socks and fuzzy boots, shoving them into her hands with his brow furrowed.

“i don’t want you to catch a cold. the last thing mom needs on her plate is you getting sick because you were being reckless!”

she had rolled her eyes. she  _ knew  _ that dream hated it when she rolled her eyes. his face always started to burn with anger when she did it, trying his best not to yell or curse at his younger sister. messing with a bull was just something that ran in their blood, she guessed. 

she booked it back outside the door at the next chance she got. she didnt know if the snow would stick or not, but she remembered desperately hoping it would.

she remembered days like these. snow falling to the ground, piling slowly on the land until it weighed the door of the bunker down or froze the metal shut so that she couldn’t open it by herself. 

over the past few years, days like these became the worst. it didn’t always snow on the outskirts of l’manberg, but when it did, it was harsh. no matter what she was wearing the cold bit at her skin and rattled her bones until she was stuck in place. it made her feel weak, and she hated it.

she stood in front of the window in her small makeshift base, watching the snow fall and pile on the grass and weigh the leafless branches of the trees down. she wanted to go out there, but in the distance she could see fireworks going off and people screaming. 

her brother’s voice pulled her from her thoughts. 

“hey.”

“hey,” she echoed, not taking her view off the sky.

“it’s not safe out there.”

“i know that, dream.” 

his name felt weird on her tongue. ever since she was little, it was always  _ clay.  _ but ever since they moved, into this new town with new faces, he asked her to call him  _ dream.  _ she thought it sounded pretentious, but she also didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.

when they moved, dream started hiding his face. she didn't know what he did back home that made him need anonymity, but if she asked, he wouldn’t tell her. no one knew the real clay here. she wasn’t sure if they knew who she was either.

“if you go out there today, you’re going to have to fight.”

she sighed, “even if i just want to run around in the snow?”

he nodded. “yes. you’re not with l’manberg, and if they see you, they’ll kill you.”

“war is stupid,” she growled, turning around and looking at her older brother.

she winced when she saw him, bearing the simple mask with two eyeholes and a poorly drawn smile on it. if she was honest, the damn thing was creepy. she sometimes would forget what dream even looked like underneath, always defaulting his appearance in her head to the one with the mask.

“you’re right.” he says, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder. she can’t tell if it’s a warning, or if it’s affectionate. “war  _ is  _ stupid. but so are humans. and humans like to do stupid things.”

“they like to say stupid things too, apparently.” she grinned, trying to break some of the tension. dream just looked down at her. she couldn’t tell if he was angry or if he was smiling at her.

a long, uncomfortable moment passed where the two stood in silence. he was only ever quiet when he had something on his mind. she was only quiet when she didn’t have anything left to say.

“you’re a good fighter,” he started, “and i know that you want to go out there. whether to fight or to build or to just simply be; you want to go out there. it’s written on your face.”

she nodded slowly.

“it’s written on your face, and that’s a problem.”

_ what? _

before she had a chance to even process it, dream placed something in her hands. she looked at the strap with the metal clasps, heart dropping as she flipped it over to see an identical mask to the one her brother was wearing. 

“if you want to go outside, i can’t take that freedom from you. but i also want you to wear this. we can’t let people know our faces. it makes us vulnerable.”

“i…..”

she was speechless, truthfully. she had no idea what she was even supposed to say to something like this.

“come here.” he said, gently taking the mask from her hands and turning her around. 

without room for protest, she heard the clicks of the clasps behind her head. her vision was partially obscured, not enough to be blinding but enough to be annoying. she could feel every time she breathed and it was so uncomfortable.

“i…”

she turned back around to look at dream, wondering if he knew that there were tears building in her eyes. she didn’t want this. she didn’t want to have to be anonymous to go make friends. she didn’t want to have to remind the people that dream had threatened with this mask upon his face that she was related to him.

“can i at least… take it off while i’m here? alone, with you?”

dream looked down at her and shrugged. he looked so condescending, no matter if he meant it or not.

“it’s up to you, i guess. just keep in mind that someone could break down that door at any moment, and our identities will be known forever.”

she balled her fists. “is that seriously it? you always wear your mask because you want to be anonymous?” she hissed, glaring into him. he didn’t know that. “or are you scared that if you’re  _ ‘vulnerable’  _ that someone is destined to hurt you?”

dream took a step backwards, not knowing what to say. she continued.

“not showing your stupid face doesn’t mean that you can’t get hurt! it just puts a barrier around yourself and everyone around you!”

she didn’t realize she was shaking until she looked down at her trembling hands. 

“i’m not like you, dream.”

“i didn’t say you were.”

“you didn’t have to.”

the biggest problem with the masks is that you would never see the other person’s emotions. she would never see the rage heating his face. he would never see the tears spilling down her cheeks, unaffecting her voice.

“i don’t want to wear your stupid mask.” 

dream’s tone was poisonous. “you’re going to have to. look, i don’t care, okay? people are only going to hurt you if you let them. i’m trying to prepare you.”

she cut him off almost immediately. “by hiding your face and making me feel like i don’t know my brother anymore?!”

“what? no, i--”

“are you just trying to- to- to make it an even playing field?” she stumbled over her words, anger eating away at her heart. “because i feel disconnected from you, are you trying to disconnect yourself from me? do you just not want to be connected anymore?”

“that’s not it at all! come on, i-“

“whatever,  _ dream, _ ” she spat his name out like it was rotten, “i’ll keep wearing the mask.”

she threw on her hoodie and equipped the chestplate quickly, doing it with ease based upon memory. she slid on her boots and opened the door.

“just don’t expect me to open up to you after this.”


End file.
